


Hunter, Hunted

by notraelet



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Basically, Gen, M/M, Teaching, The adventures of Isaac and Chris in france, and canon character death, chrisaac - Freeform, here's a warning for that too, idk if it will actually get shippy but, if it does, rated for macabre thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-23 07:27:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2539382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notraelet/pseuds/notraelet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He doesn’t know why Isaac chose to go with him over staying with Scott, but he doesn’t want to ask.  Scott is Isaac’s alpha, his leader, and- Chris had thought- his closest friend.  Perhaps it unnerved him, to have someone so close.  Perhaps it made Isaac afraid to lose him.</i>
</p><p>  <i>Or hell, maybe Isaac just got tired of trying to be a good guy.</i></p><p> Chris and Isaac go to France.  Neither of them are really sure how to treat one another in the wake of the events at the end of 3B, but it's not really like they have anyone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hunter, Hunted

The gunshot is loud, and Isaac jumps visibly at the sound of it, despite the protection over his ears. He jumps like he hadn’t expected it to be so loud, despite the closeness, despite his sensitive hearing, despite the fact that it was his finger that pulled the trigger.

His shot goes predictably wild, the bullet embedding itself into the bark of a tree, a good five feet up from the target he’s supposed to be shooting at. Isaac steals a sidelong glance behind him, where Chris is standing, his arms folded across his chest. The hunter doesn’t give any indication that he wants to speak, or that Isaac should stop- doesn’t offer him pointers, doesn’t really do anything at all, except nod expectantly back down toward the range.

Isaac takes in a deep breath, squares his shoulders, and readjusts his aim.

_

“It’s about protection,” Chris had told him over coffee earlier that week. When Isaac had opened his mouth to argue, he cut him off easily. “As a hunter, we’re trained to stay at least twenty paces away from the target. Wolves, kanima- they’re all hand-to-hand. The more distance you keep, the safer you are. It’s the inverse when you’re the one with the claws.”

Isaac’s eyes had narrowed slightly, but despite his instinct to argue, he could understand what Chris was trying to say. Still, though- “I’m faster than any hunter. I can close the distance before they fire and gut them.”

“Do you want to test that out?” Chris asked, an eyebrow raised sardonically. Isaac’s expression went sullen, and he picked a little at his pastry, avoiding the hunter’s gaze. “Look- I know you can heal, but there’s no sense in putting yourself in obvious danger when you can be… removed from the situation. If you can drop a kanima when you’re twenty feet away, why would you risk moving in for hand to hand? Most creatures are lethal up close, including you, but you’re _weak_ at ranged fighting. And Isaac,” there’s a pause there, and Chris tilts his head down, looking at Isaac as if disapproving, “I know you’ve taken too many arrows to the chest to disagree with me.”

There’s really not much to say to that. Isaac frowned, but didn’t argue any further, and the two of them had finished their breakfast in silence.

_

Silence is how they usually operate these days. Chris has never been an overly talkative sort, and he’s beginning to realize that Isaac wasn’t either. The two of them had been enemies, hesitant allies, at odds with one another over Allison, and now-

-now, they’re stuck in a situation that neither of them particularly wants to admit: that they’re all the other person has left.

Isaac has lost, and Chris thinks that in a way, Isaac has lost more than anyone he knows- perhaps even more than he himself. He lost his mother, his brother, his father- both packmates, Derek had turned his back on him, and then Allison…

But the memory is too bitter to linger over, so Chris pushes it away. He doesn’t know why Isaac chose to go with him over staying with Scott, but he doesn’t want to ask. Scott is Isaac’s alpha, his leader, and- Chris had thought- his closest friend. Perhaps it unnerved him, to have someone so close. Perhaps it made Isaac afraid to lose him.

Or hell, maybe Isaac just got tired of trying to be a good guy.

Regardless, Chris- Chris, who had lost his own mother, lost his wife, his sister, his daughter- Chris doesn’t pry, he doesn’t open doors that would be better left shut. Isaac’s reasons _matter_ , but they matter in a way that’s too visceral for either of them to explore, and so Chris doesn’t ask and Isaac doesn’t tell him.

What matters is that Isaac is here with him, and Chris had been prepared to go off the grid, prepared to go invisible and live in seclusion for as long as he needed, but now there’s someone else. Someone new to take care of, someone who Chris never quite feels safe around, but someone that he can’t quite shove away.

And so they stay in silence.

_

Isaac fires off five more rounds before the gun goes empty, but he doesn’t realize it. He takes a deep breath, focuses, and aims down the sights while Chris watches quietly. The wolf’s head bows slightly, teeth gritting, preparing himself for the loud noise again- but when he pulls the trigger, all he gets for his anticipation is a desolate little _click_.

He looks back to Chris, confused, and the hunter tugs his ear protection down, waiting for a moment for Isaac to do the same.

“ _Never_ lose count of how many bullets you have,” he finally says, his eyes slightly narrowed. Isaac turns his gaze downward at the chastising tone, and Chris reevaluates the situation before his voice softens, just a little. “For a hunter, it can mean the difference between life and death.”

“I’m not a hunter.”

There’s a pause, and Chris takes a step forward. Because he’s trained to notice these things, he sees the way that Isaac’s shoulders tense just slightly, the way that his jaw tightens, his eyes flick down to look at Chris’ hand for a split second. Too late, Chris loosens his fingers from the casual fist he’d been making and reaches out to take the gun from Isaac’s hands. He doesn’t give any indication that he’d noticed anything, but inwardly, he curses himself.

Who is he? Just another older man, another powerful figure who called the shots and could have Isaac cowering on the floor in seconds. He doesn’t know all the details of what had really happened that resulted in Isaac accepting the bite, but Allison had hinted enough about it- ‘ _it’s from Isaac, but dad, it wasn’t his fault, okay? He just, we were locked in a closet together- no, not like_ that _\- he has a thing with small spaces, where’s the first aid kit?_ ’

God, Allison. Her voice- Chris closes his eyes for a moment, forces it away, and tightens his posture as he reloads the gun. He’s teaching Isaac how to shoot.

They both apparently need a moment of composure, because Isaac is looking away right now, presumably shaking back memories of his own. Compartmentalize. Do what needs to be done.

“I know it’s loud,” he finally says, lifting the gun again. “But you can’t flinch in anticipation of hearing it. You have to just steel yourself and shoot.”

Isaac, pulled from his own thoughts by Chris’ voice, sighs and stares toward the target. Twenty-five paces, probably, with a hole in the shoulder and one in the gut. The rest of the shots were gone, in the surrounding trees or the ground before it.

“Easy for you to say,” he finally murmurs, leaning forward enough to rest his elbows on the counter area before them. “You can’t hear it like I do.”

“I also can’t see as well as you,” Chris clips back, testing the aim of the gun. “Or move as fast, or locate targets as easily. You have several clear advantages.”

Isaac groans. “Can’t we put a silencer on the damn thing?”

“A suppressor, and no. We will, later, but you need to get a feel for the weight and aim of a gun without one. You can never be sure of what you’ll have on hand in the field, and you need to always be prepared.”

“I’m going to blow out my eardrums.”

Chris shrugs. “Maybe.”

It’s meant as a joke, but the haughty look that Isaac gives him in return makes him think that it probably didn’t come across as one.

_

Getting in touch with the European contacts had been easy.

Hiding Isaac from them had been another thing entirely.

Chris may have been enlightened on the ways of ‘not all werewolves are raging monsters’, but he was one of a very few hunters who were- and even then, his opinions were mostly changed because of Scott and Allison. To put it frankly, Isaac had a tendency of letting his impulses get the better of him, and he had a loose canon streak that nestled him quite comfortably on the list of ‘reasons hunters generally don’t like werewolves’. Had it been Scott sitting next to him instead of Isaac, Chris might have reconsidered his options.

As it was, he had Isaac in tow, and unsurprisingly, Isaac did _not_ like the idea of Chris consorting with hunters who would rather have his pelt than attempt a civil discussion.

“You know,” he’d said, his lip curled, “sometimes it feels like I’m being lead straight into a trap.”

“And _why_ would I buy you a plane ticket to France just to capture you, when I could have easily taken you down in Beacon Hills and saved myself the trouble?”

Isaac had no response.

The meeting had gone well, regardless. Isaac made himself scarce for a few hours, and Chris had given him specific instructions not to come within a mile of the deal. They’d meet back up in a few hours, at a local farmer’s market, and then they’d get the fuck out before anyone could see them together.

He had keys to a car, enough money to last him awhile, and the offer to join them if he ever wants to hunt in Europe. He’d declined, of course, but in a small way, part of him appreciated the offer. It wasn’t too long ago that he was hunting wolves, protecting the innocent- or so he’d thought- and living his life by the code. It was easier back then, before Scott, before Gerard, back when he could be a father to a normal family on weekdays and a hunter and protector at the end of the week. His life had been easy then, mechanically so.

But that didn’t change what was currently happening, and so he took the keys, took the money, and left to meet the werewolf so they could discuss dinner plans.

_

Chris can hear Isaac’s heartbeat like this, pressed up close to him, Isaac’s back tucked against his chest. He doesn’t think about it. Compartmentalize.

“Use both hands to hold it,” he murmurs, reaching around Isaac’s shoulders- surprisingly wide- and adjusting his arms, watching as Isaac’s fingers tighten on a gun in a reactionary grip. “Keep your feet apart- a little more than shoulder-width, that’s it.”

Isaac takes a deep breath and nods, the movement making his curls brush against the stubble on Chris’ chin. He doesn’t think about it.

He presses his hands against Isaac’s elbows and pushes gently, so they lock, and then lowers his head so that his gaze is parallel with Isaac’s own, their cheeks inches apart. He doesn't think about it.

“Line up the shot. Exhale. Calm. Expect the sound, but don’t tighten up anticipating it. And-”

The shot rings out, loud as a firework in Chris’ ear, and he wasn’t quite expecting it at that moment, but he barely reacts, his training taking over his jump reflex. Just in front of him, Isaac doesn’t jump either, forces the calm that Chris had been encouraging, keeps his eyes on the target, forces himself not to flinch. Chris finds himself staring thoughtfully at the gun in Isaac’s hand and then he tilts his gaze up, toward the target.

A bullet hole, right through the neck.

The hunter swallows hard and takes a step back away from the werewolf, perhaps a moment too late.

“Better.”

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I was out of the Teen Wolf fandom, but the idea of Chris and Isaac being alone in France pulled me back in. I'll probably write more to this, but I'm not sure which direction I want to take it in, so... we'll see! I really love their dynamic though, and I'm excited to explore it a little more. Let me know what you think!


End file.
